Vastly underrated film that sadly has not gotten the popularity that it deserves. Though in black and white, the film is physically beautiful; the castle, the landscape, even the costumes the young men and women wear. Both the photography and story line in the film display an unusual ethereal and poetic quality that remains in the viewers' mind long after it has been watched. Amid all this beauty, unsettling emotions simmer underneath. A sad, haunting story of a fatalistic love triangle revolving around the unrequited love of the main female character deeply in love with male cousin.

Interesting story, but needed more work. Good cinematography, acting and music. Very Atmospheric I saw this in French with English subtitles. So the I'm sure the story was lost during translation or I missed some things. The best part of the movie is the atmosphere. It has good acting and music. Cinematography was good. Best scene was when Millarca was stalking the victim girl. The ending was a bit of a mess, with the black and white, operating table. That needed more work.My initial rating was 6 stars, because the story needed more work. I still believe that. While watching the movie my thoughts were that Carmilla was not supernaturally possessed by Millarca but was psychologically possessed, thinking in her own mind that she was possessed. This is a much more interesting story.Rating is a B-/B, it needed more work. 7 stars.

I took a chance on buying the 2014 German language "Filmclub Edition" release of "Blood and Roses", which is titled "Und Vor Lust Zu Sterben", and I am delighted with it. I only watched the French audio version that comes with the English subtitles, as that is the only version that I could understand, but it's a lovely, crisp, WIDESCREEN print of the movie, and therefore a million miles away from the full screen VHS version that i have had to live with up until now.The story is slight: Leopoldo Karnstein is celebrating his impending wedding to the beautiful Georgia, and everybody is happy except for cousin Carmilla, who is secretly jealous. As various festivities are enjoyed by the family, Carmilla sneaks off out of spite, and ends up exploring an ancient family tomb and finding the disturbed resting place of a famous ancestor who was rumoured to have been a vampire. What happens to her in that tomb is only hinted at, but she emerges changed from a lighthearted girl to a moody and troubled enigma. The rest of the film charts how Carmilla subtly begins to pull apart the happiness of the engaged couple, with tragic resultsThe plot of the film is not the main attraction here, it's the way the film is shot. It's almost like a watching a poem come to life on screen. There is a lot of stillness in the film, some scenes linger on very slow moving visuals for long periods of time, but it all comes together, if you have the patience to just enjoy what you are looking at. A lot of mileage is gained from the many scenes in which Carmilla drifts silently around the scenery in an extravagant white ballgown. Annette Vadim looks stunning in the main role of Carmilla, and even shots of her doing nothing at all still look superb. Her acting skills are up to the job, and she shows a surprising amount of different emotions in the role, whereas, if shots of her are just viewed in still images or short clips, the impression you get of her is that she is quite wooden, but when seen in the film as a whole, I think she is actually very good. Elsa Martinelli is also very good in the role of the innocent Georgia, and scenes of the two women together can look amazing, especially in a subtle but heavily erotic scene set in a greenhouse during a storm. Not much happens here, but the scene is electrifying all the same. As I said earlier, the film is actually pretty short on events but you'll still enjoy it due to the lush scenery, lighting and the visual beauty of the two lead actresses. The music also plays a vital role, with many scenes underscored by a delicate and melancholy classical soundtrack, which reminded me of the score to "Lisa and The Devil", which used music to a similar effect. The whole movie has a very European film to it, unmistakable as a product of 1960s France/Italy, and impossible to reproduce today.The only niggle with this release is some poor quality hiss and scratchiness of the French audio, but I forgive this for the stunning picture quality. I avoided buying this release for quite a while as I was hoping that an English audio version would eventually come out, because I prefer to soak up the visual atmosphere of a film like "Blood and Roses" without having to constantly read text, but I like this version now that I have watched it. The cast speak their dialogue in French (you can tell because the spoken audio synchs correctly to their mouths), so the dialogue looks authentic, and I happy to enjoy this with English subtitles.All in all, a superb movie.

I was a teenager, that movie was rated +16 and I was 14. I don't remember why I wanted so much to watch this movie, maybe the poster's picture, Annette Vadim and Elsa Martinelli kissing :). I borrowed the ID card of an older friend of mine, then I'd been allowed to go in.That day, I've seen that movie 2 times, and I came back the day after and I stayed 2 more times watching it, fascinated. Not for the plot, the plot is cheesy. Not for some nudity, there's none. The beauty of Annette Vadim, oh yes! The magnificent cinematography? Even if I didn't know what "cinematography" was, I still remember the fascination I sensed for the colors and the lighting. And I still remember also the score of Jean Prodromidès (an underrated genius, his opera "The Persians" is a masterpiece!) It was almost 50 years ago, thanks to Annette, Claude Renoir, Jean Prodromidès, Vadim, I was become a movie-goer. By the way, I've never seen that movie again from that time. I'm afraid to be disappointed.